47 feared dead, 28 hurt as fire erupts in Tamil Nadu Express

NELLORE: At least 47 passengers, mostly from Chennai, were feared dead and 28 others were seriously injured in a fire accident in train no 12622 New Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express between Nellore and Vedayapalem Railway stations on Vijayawada-Gudur Section of Vijayawada division at 0414 hours, early today.


Railway sources said 12 charred bodies were removed from the ill-fated coach. The fire that broke out in S-11 coach of the train was noticed by Deputy Station Manager, Nellore, and the train was brought to a halt immediately.


The fire was put off by 0520 hours, the sources said, adding the other coaches of the train were isolated.



Union Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa ordered a full scale inquiry into the fire accident in New Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express. Talking to newspersons, he said the exact toll of deaths would be announced only after talking with railway officials as he was rushing to the spot this afternoon, sources said. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, expressing shock over the deaths, directed the Chief Secretary Mini Mathew to coordinate with the railway officials over the rescue operations. Reddy also directed the Nellore District Collector and Superintendent of Police to keep ready medical teams and ambulances to transport the injured persons in the fire accident.


The South Central Railway (SCR) announced an enhanced ex-gratia amount of Rs five lakh to the kin of each passenger who died in the fire accident in Train No 12622 New Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express at Nellore in the early hours of today. At least 47 passengers were feared burnt alive and 28 other seriously injured in the incident. SCR Chief Public Relations Officer K Sambasiva Rao in a release said in addition to the ex-gratia, an ex-Gratia of Rs one lakh will be paid to the grievously injured and an Ex- ratia of Rs 25,000 will be paid to the simple injured passengers. The train traffic which was suspended after the fire accident on the Nellore-Gudur section was restored at 0740 hours and all the train on the section were running as per their schedules, Rao said.